Fiber optic cables are widely used for telecommunications applications where high information capacity may be exploited. Fiber cable architectures are emerging for connecting homes and/or business establishments, via optical fibers, to a central location, for example. A trunk or main cable may be routed, for example, through a housing subdivision and small fiber count branch or drop cables may be spliced to the main cable at predetermined spaced apart locations.
A main cable may be installed underground or aerially and have multiple drop cables connected thereto. Each of the drop cables, in turn, may be routed to an optical network unit serving several homes. Information may then be transmitted optically to the optical network unit, and into the home, via conventional copper cable technology or optically via optical fiber extending all the way to the home. Alternatively, the drop cables may be routed directly to the house. Thus, the drop cables may serve groups of users, although other architectures may also employ a main cable and one or more drop cables connected thereto.